"It's not prejudice. It's irritation that you never thought that about me."
"Obviously, Ifantasizedthat you were. I was too afraid of losing you to bring it up though, and my family didn't know about the magic thing until Callum was finally brave enough to let Kat feel his power."
"How does that work?"
"His power? It gets her off."
"Callum and the werewolf," he clarified. "I never actually pictured him with her, despite his obsession."
"Oh, he's way more obsessed with her now. I’d say it’s unhealthy, but he’s in pain when they’re not touching, so I guess it makes sense that he revolves around her like she’s the sun."
"What's she like?"
"Kat's pretty laid back. She's obsessed with coffee, and she always has her fridge stocked with leftover desserts and other things from her cafe for me. She was Jonah's best friend before he became the Beta, which is how I met him, but they don't talk much anymore. It was kind of a trauma bond, because Gwen betrayed them both when she agreed to be the Alpha."
"Everything's about him these days, huh?"
She rolled her eyes at me. "Just read my texts with him. It'll make you feel better. We weren't ever even good friends."
"You're going to mock me for my possessiveness if I snoop."
"Nah. If you'd fucked someone else, I would've already taken your phone and read every message multiple times."
I believed her.
I scrolled through her texts with Jonah over the last five months, scanning the messages for anything even somewhat romantic.
Liv had tried to flirt a few times, but his responses had never been great.
She pulled into a drive-through, and I looked up with a raised brow when she ordered a small, fully-caffeinated iced coffee, my favorite mocha, and an assload of food. We were at the Werewolf Cafe location that was only a few streets from the orchard.
"Caffeinated coffee is a bad idea for you, Livvy."
"It's not going to give me a panic attack today. Growing plants drains me too much. I'll sip it slowly."
It was absolutely still going to give her a panic attack, but given that we were easing back into our relationship, I'd help her through it instead of arguing.
When she pulled up to the window, the woman in it greeted her by name and handed over the mountain of food without batting an eye.
"I come here a few mornings a week," Liv explained, as she pulled away from the building. "I'd rather go inside, but scaring people first thing in the morning gets old. I'm usually here after my morning run, so I can handle the wait for the most part."
"Are you still planning on running at the orchard most mornings?" I'd be running with her in one of my beast forms, if she was. I hated running in human form.
"Nah. I'll just go up and down Fae Row now that I'm free from Jonah. I think our friendship is already dead, considering the way he and Gwen played me."
Thank fuck.
Liv parked in a small lot on the far end of the Orchard, only a few minutes from the coffee shop. "I figured we can share, unless you're suddenly afraid of my germs."
"I'm actually their biggest fan."
She snorted, handing me a fork and lifting her knee up onto the seat as she turned toward me, holding the box between us. The moment was so normal, it almost felt like the last two years hadn't happened at all as we ate together.
I tapped out on breakfast before Liv did, her magic making her basically a bottomless pit.
She sighed heavily when she finally leaned back in her seat."How long do you think this is going to take me? I'm ready to be done with this place."
"I don't know. We can take every other day off, so it's not as overwhelming."
